How Your Heart Responds When You Lower Your Cholesterol

You’ve probably heard “high cholesterol bad, low cholesterol good,” but that’s an oversimplification. The real issue is how your heart responds to levels of different types of cholesterol.

At West Houston Heart Center in Houston, Texas, Dr. Humayun Naqvi and his team offer preventative cardiology, including diagnosis of and treatment for high cholesterol. Here’s what we want you to know about how your heart responds when you start lowering your cholesterol.

Cholesterol basics

First things first: cholesterol is more complicated than you think. Fact: your body actually needs cholesterol to function properly, and your liver makes its own cholesterol — usually all you’ll need, although you can get more from foods with healthy fats, like fish, nuts, and avocadoes.

This cholesterol is called high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and, among other things, it helps you synthesize Vitamin D, build and maintain cell membranes, and create bile so your body can digest fats. It also promotes healthy hormone production.

A lot of the foods you eat probably also contain cholesterol, though, and it’s not as good. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is found in many popular foods with saturated fats, trans fats, and triglycerides. Think full-fat dairy products, red meats, and highly processed foods.

How “bad” cholesterol affects your heart

If you’re not overloading on foods with high levels of LDL, your liver and digestive system can get rid of it. Too much LDL in your system, though, and your body stops being able to handle the excess. This means that LDL ends up in your bloodstream, where it can start to build up and harden on the insides of your arteries — kind of like grease on the inside of a kitchen drain pipe.

The hardening of LDL into “plaque” causes atherosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries. This affects your heart in a few different ways:

• It makes your heart work harder to pump blood
• It puts strain on your arteries
• It increases the risk of a blood clot, heart attack, and stroke

So, how do you stop the damage being done by high LDL levels and get your heart back on the track to health?

Lowering your cholesterol

If you already have significant plaque build-up in your arteries, we may need to give you medication to fight plaque or do a small surgery to open up nearly blocked arteries. If you’re still in the early stages of atherosclerosis, you may be able to lower your cholesterol and improve your heart health with lifestyle changes, such as:

• Stopping smoking (this improves heart health even if you don’t have bad cholesterol)
• Limiting foods with unhealthy fats
• Adding high-fiber foods and healthy fats to your diet
• Exercising to improve blood flow

Even if your heart was struggling due to narrowed arteries, you can slow down or stop the adverse changes in your heart health and even reverse them over time. Your heart can get stronger, you can lower your risk of heart attack and stroke, and you’ll find that your overall sense of well-being goes up as your cholesterol levels go down.

Worried about cholesterol and your cardiovascular health? Schedule an appointment at West Houston Heart Center. Call us at 832-400-3957, or request an appointment online.